Retro Game Review -- Mario Bros. (Atari 5200)

Game: Mario Bros.

System: Atari 5200

Publisher: Nintendo by way of Atari

Year: 1983

Ranking: Three Quarters

Before Mario starting dating Nintendo exclusively, he was open to relationships with all sort and sundry video game consoles. In the mid-1980s the first eponymous Mario game, Mario Bros., was released in the arcade and on the BBC Micro, the ZX Spectrum, DOS, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Commodore  64 (two versions!), all major Atari systems (2600, 5200, 7800, and 8-bit computers), and, as one would expect, the NES. This can be compared to Super Mario Bros., the second eponymous Mario game, which was only released in the arcade and on the NES. I'd like to think that Mario's libertine youth is what ultimately lead to him to finding true and lasting love with Nintendo.

Mario Bros. was not the first game Nintendo published featuring its world famous mascot. That honor resides with Donkey Kong, a game more famous for its antagonist than its protagonist. In fact, Mario didn't even have a real name in Donkey Kong. He was only referred to as Jumpman. He wasn't even a plumber. He was a carpenter, ostensibly due to the fact that he was chasing Donkey Kong though a construction site to save his beloved Pauline. In Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi are trying to clear pesky pests out the pipes in their house so that they can take a relaxing bubble bath. Owing to Mario's potent pipe cleaning proficiency, Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's legendary creator, said in a 2010 interview in USA Today that this was the game that decided his career. Interestingly, all three Atari home system manuals for Mario Bros. list Mario's occupation as carpenter. The NES manual is surprisingly silent on his occupation. This implies, to me, that the decision to make Mario a plumber was a bit of a retro-fit. If anyone can find primary source material from the mid-1980s (e.g., manuals, press-releases, etc.) that mention Mario was a plumber, please post a link in the comments below! 

Mario Bros. is a one or two player game. Players can choose between going it alone with Mario, or opting for a cooperative or competitive game with Mario and Luigi. The game play is very similar to Midway's classic Joust. Players are confronted with a single battle screen. Enemies swarm down the screen, and Mario and his brother need to eliminate them before they themselves are eliminated. Enemies are familiar, but are referred to by obscure names. Koopa Troopers are Shellcreepers, Crabbies are Sidesteppers, and Freezies are Slipices. The one exception is Fighterflies. They retain their moniker in later games. The familiar mechanic of raining death down from above is replaced by punching destruction up from below. Pipe clogging pests must first be flipped onto their backs and then kicked off the screen before they have a chance to flip themselves over. Shellcreepers require one punch to flip over. Sidesteppers require two punches. Fighterflies also only require one punch to flip, but it has to be carefully timed to coincide to when they are touching the ground. Defeat an enemy and a coin with exit from one of the pipes. You can collect it for bonus points. Take too long to defeat your enemies and two fireballs will start roaming the screen looking to roast Mario and Luigi. You can either choose to avoid them, or attempt to punch them from below for big points. If you get frustrated and there are just too many enemies on the screen, you can hit the "POW" button to flip over all the enemies touching the ground. Be judicious though, you can only hit the "POW" button three times before it disappears until the next bonus screen. Bonus screens come along every so often and are filled only with coins. You'll get extra points for collecting all the coins within a prescribed time limit. 

Mario Bros. was the only Mario game released for the Atari 5200. The game play is solid and the difficulty increases at an enjoyable rate. While the single player mode is entertaining, the game really shines with two players. Although it is possible, I suppose, to play a cooperative game, the real fun is trying to bounce a Shellcreeper onto your opponent. My only complaint is that the colors are a bit murky. I would have preferred to see the bright, lime green pipes we have come to know and love in more recent Mario games. Mario may have married Nintendo, but I am sure glad that he went out on at least one date with the Atari 5200.

Atari 5200 Mario Bros. start screen. 

Shellcreepers (Koopa Troopers) and Sidestepper (Crabby) descend upon Mario in the Atari 5200 version of Mario Bros.

Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.

Retro Game Review -- Missile Command (Atari 5200)

Game: Missile Command

System: Atari 5200

Publisher: Atari

Year: 1982

Ranking: Four Quarters

It had the best controller, it had the worst controller.

The notoriety of the stock Atari 5200 controller cannot be overstated. It had a floppy, non-centering joystick. Fire buttons were mushy, unresponsive, and stopped working after a few intense sessions of your favorite shooter. The design was so bad, if fact, that if you did mange to keep it all working, you were pretty much guaranteed to develop an RSI within a week owing to the abominable ergonomic design. The stock controller was ranked as the 10th worst video game controller by IGN editor Craig Harris. I am truly surprised it did that well. 

On the other end of the spectrum was the Atari 5200 trak-ball controller. The Atari 5200 trak-ball is big and heavy: it's nearly as big as the Atari 2600! The ball is about the size of a tennis ball, so while it's not "arcade-quality" it's a lot more substantial then the standard ping-pong sized balls commonly used for home trackball controllers. Most importantly, the Atari 5200 trak-ball works fantastically with all compatible games. The most recognizable of which is the 1980 arcade classic Missile Command.

Atari 5200 trak-ball controller (left) shown with the Atari 2600 (right) for scale.

One would think that Missile Command needs no introduction. Looking over the decades-old manual, however, I found a provocative and rich back story. You are a missile commander on the resource rich planet of Zardon. Armed with antiballistic missiles from a central missile bunker, you aim to defend the six principle cities of this peaceful planet. Unfortunately, the neighboring Krytolians stuck on the resource poor planet of Krytolia, have decided to launch an all out war on Zardon to capture its precious resources for the glory of Krytolia. As the commanding defense officer, you must deploy quick thinking and strategy to defend Zardon against the Krytolian onslaught. Missile Command is more than just a simple shooter, it is complex, hot-conflict simulation, modeling the fallout of the Krytolian's greed to seize the Zardonian's valuable resources at any cost. 

To be honest, this was already a fantastic game on the Atari 2600. The relatively straightforward arcade graphics translated very well to the more modest capabilities of the Atari 2600. Two simplifications, however, were made. First, the number of missile bases was reduced from three in the arcade version to one in the Atari 2600 version. Second, many users used the standard Atari 2600 joystick to move the targeting icon around the screen rather than the slick trackball that the arcade version used. While the Atari 5200 version has one missile base like the Atari 2600 version it also has a massive trackball to help you aim your antiballistic missiles with pin-point accuracy. Playing Missile Command on the Atari 5200 with its "trak-ball" controller is about as close as you can get to reliving the early 80's arcade experience without the arcade cabinet. 

Unfortunately, the Atari 5200 trak-ball is getting harder and harder to come by. I purchased my Atari 5200 in March 2013 through eBay, and quickly tried to buy my own authentic Atari 5200 trak-ball. After several unsuccessful eBay bids, I contacted Best Electronics. Best Electronics specializes in replacement parts and accessories for all Atari Game Systems. The webpage looks a bit dated, and ordering can be a bit convoluted, but their extensive inventory makes the effort worth it. When I contacted them to see if they had any Atari 5200 trak-balls in stock, they told me that after 27+ years of selling the Atari 5200 trak-ball, they ran out of stock the week before I emailed them. Talk about poor timing. In the end, I did find one on eBay, but I paid a little bit more than I would have liked. The good news is that even without the 5200 trak-ball controller, the game still plays well with the stock controller. 

As with most early arcade games, ultimately, resistance is futile. The Krytolians invasion is just too powerful, and all major cities eventually fall. I'd like to think that as the last explosions wipe out the final defensive position, a few proud, strong Zardonians survive to continue the good fight. 

Opening screen for the Atari 5200 version of Missile Command. The central antiballistic missile compound and six cities to defend can be seen along the bottom of the screen. Practically speaking there is little difference between this screen and the Atari 2600 version.

The Krytolian offensive begins. An enemy satellite can be seen exploding in the center of the screen. 

The famous Missile Command game over screen. The words "THE END" are engulfed in a  final nuclear bombardment. 

The finest way to play old-school Missile Command on the small screen: Atari 5200 with the 5200 trak-ball controller.

Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.

Retro Game Review -- Moon Patrol (Atari 5200)

Game: Moon Patrol

System: Atari 5200

Publisher: Atari

Year: 1983

Ranking: Three Quarters

When I ordered my Atari 5200 SuperSystem off of eBay, it came with 11 games. Among gems and duds, was Moon Patrol. I don't remember hearing about either the arcade or Atari versions when I was younger, so I didn't spend a lot of time with the game. I played it once to make sure that it worked, and then I put it in the back of the drawer. It probably would have continued to collect dust if it hadn't been selected in the AtariAge Atari 5200 high-score club. 

Classic game high-score clubs, like the ones on AtariAge, help keep vintage titles fresh. Let's be honest, there is not a lot of depth to many old-school games. Fire-up most any classic and after a few nostalgic minutes, most people have satisfied their fix and will return to playing the latest installment of Call of Duty. High-score clubs help to keep these retro games interesting by creating a community of gamers all playing the same title at the same time. Just like when we used to trade high-scores with our buddies around the block, high-score forums are places where we can post scores, opinions, and advice. Seeing someone score hundreds of thousands more points than you can be humbling, but it also drives you to improve your game. The selection of Moon Patrol in the AtariAge high-score club motivated me to dig it out of the back of the drawer.

In Moon Patrol, you are part of the Luna City Police Department (LCPD). Not to be confused, of course, with the Liberty City Police Department, which has significantly better graphics for their patrol cars. You patrol the lunar surface, destroying invading aliens with laser bullets, jumping gaping craters with anti-gravity suspension, and avoiding menacing obstacles with knee-jerk reactions. The graphics are a bit of a disappointment compared to the arcade version. For example, your patrol buggy is missing an entire set of wheels, and the playing field is bracketed by two columns of blocky graphics that don't make a lot of sense. On the other hand, the sound effects are great and the soundtrack is exceedingly catchy. As you progress along your beat, markers present along the top of the screen tick off your progress. First "A", then "B", etc. Each time you die, you go back to the last marker you passed. It's a nice way to save you from starting at the beginning every time. In addition, if you wreck all of your patrol cars, you have the option to continue at the last station marker. Bonus points are awarded for speed. Blast through a set number of markers quickly, and you can score significant bonus points.

Moon Patrol is the perfect type of game for a high-score club. As a rookie, I was pretty sure that it was impossible to make it past a particularly tricky one-two, tank-crater combo early in the Championship version of the game. If I had been playing the game alone I'm fairly certain that I would have just turned in my badge and gun and quit the force. After checking in with the high-score club forum, however, I saw that nearly everybody had made it past that point and was posting some pretty solid scores. That was all the motivation I needed to make it past my that challenge and far enough into the game to feel respectable.

Moon Patrol is a fun game once you get into it. The most difficult aspect of the game is getting used to the fire buttons. First off, the primary fire button fires both forward and vertical guns. This wouldn't be confusing, except for the fact that the horizontal gun doesn't fire at the same rate as the vertical gun. Every time you press the primary button, the vertical gun fires. On the other hand, the horizontal gun will only fire if there isn't another horizontal bullet on the screen. This can make it difficult to get the timing right when you are trying to shoot things both in front and above you. The second wrinkle, is the fact that the secondary fire button activates the jump. For some reason, I was often confused between shooting and jumping to tragic results. Luckily, the more you play the game, the easier the controls become. I'm happy that the AtariAge Atari 5200 high-score club pushed me to play this game. 

Moon Patrol buggy showing off its mad vertical shooting skills. Notice the incongruous vertical strips bracketing both sides of the main field of play. I'm not sure why the programmers decided to keep these in the final version.

Moon Patrol buggy jumping for joy after shooting down an alien invader.

Looking at the chunky wheels on the patrol buggy, I couldn't help but recall my favorite Lego tires growing up. As final, parting thought, I leave you with my Lego interpretation of the Atari 5200 Moon Patrol buggy.

Lego interpretation of Moon Patrol buggy.

Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.

Retro Game Review -- Midnight Magic (Atari 2600)

Game: Midnight Magic

System: Atari 2600

Publisher: Atari

Copyright Year: 1984
Released: 1986

Ranking: Three Quarters

When I say, Midnight Magic, the first thought that comes to your mind is probably not "video game", "pinball", nor "Atari 2600". In fact, a quick google search of the expression will link you to the band Midnight Magic. They describe themselves as:

A nine person ensemble bonded by the unwavering desire to make you, the listener, and the rhythm become one; the secret love children of Donna Summer and George Clinton serving up an orgasmic feast of funk, disco, electro and soul.

That's probably closer to the mark.

Despite this branding blunder by Atari, Midnight Magic is in fact an early video pinball game. Midnight Magic was Atari's second video pinball title. Atari's first foray into video pinball came in 1978 when they created a dedicated video pinball home console. Video Pinball included three game types: the eponymous pinball, breakout, and basketball. All three game types would later be released as cartridges for the Atari 2600. While Video Pinball attempted to capture the mechanics of real-world pinball machines, the horizontal orientation of the game screen and wonky physics failed to translate into a realistic simulation.

Midnight Magic was a more mature attempt to simulate real-world pinball machines for the home. The plunger is marked off at regular intervals, so that you can more reliably and consistently launch the ball onto the board to light up the central bumpers, raise the center post, and activate the side kickers. To do all this, you have to hit the indicated drop-target at the top of the board. Failure to do this when launching the ball can cost serious amounts of points. Lit bumpers are worth a whopping 1,000 points. Unlit bumpers are worth a measly 100 points. The center post is also critical to raise. Balls seem to gravitate towards the gaping maw between the lower flippers. Having a raised center post opens up the opportunity for you to perform the eminently cool "chill maneuver". In this technique, you don't use the flippers to stop the ball from going out of play. You simply stand firm and let the ball whiz past the flippers, hit the center post, and bounce back on to the playing field. The maneuver requires nerves of steel, but is necessary to master in order to stay alive long enough to hit all the drop-targets and get the point multipliers. Skilled players will be able to get up to 5x point multipliers.

Midnight Magic is addictive. It saves your in game high score, so you can compete with yourself or your friends to see who can get the highest score in a given session. The drop-targets and point multipliers provide fantastic goals to make the game more exciting. I feel like a complete failure if I don't make at least the 2x point multiplier in a sitting. The game lacks the same level of skill as an actual pinball machine, but there's enough realism to make it enjoyable.

Although Midnight Magic was copyrighted in 1984, it wasn't released until 1986. Like Gremlins for the Atari 5200 (see Retro Game Review -- Gremlins), it's official release was delayed due to the video game crash of 1983. After seeing the success of the NES release in 1985, Atari tried to redirect some of the renewed video game excitement back to their most famous system. Unfortunately, this meant that Midnight Magic was released more than a year after Pinball came out for the NES. Pinball, one of the original 18 launch titles for the NES, had colorful graphics, big sprites, and a scrolling game board. It's a significantly more impressive piece of software and puts Midnight Magic to shame. Maybe it's not fair to compare across platforms, but as a 10 year old boy, I was very sad to be playing Midnight Magic when I knew Pinball for the NES was out there. Now that I'm an old man, I'm just glad that I can play them all.

Midnight Magic for Atari 2600: Starting color.

Midnight Magic for Atari 2600: 2x point multiplier activated. The 2x point multiplier is activated when all the drop-targets at the top have been hit. Flashing colors and a brief musical number announce the multipliers activation.  

Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time. More reviews can be found here: Retro Game Reviews.

Retro Game Review -- LadyBug (Atari 2600)

Game: Lady Bug

System: Atari 2600

Publisher: John W. Champeau (Homebrew)

Year: 2006

Ranking: Four Quarters

"Two-thousand and six!", you exclaim. "But I thought the Atari 2600 died at the hands of a pudgy Italian plumber back in 1985?" 

The longevity of the 2600 is truly surprising. Atari continued to produce, market, and sell the Atari 2600 until 1992, 7 long years after Super Mario and the NES were launched in the US. The last Atari 2600 unit shipped nearly 15 years after the first one rolled out of the factories. Although it may not have been the dominant video game system during that entire time, it developed a passionate following. Once the Atari 2600 factories, such as they were, were retooled for the "superior" 16-bit generation, fans could only look to themselves to continue the development of new titles. Like the prohibition era moonshiners before them, Atari fans around the world took to their studies, basements, and attics to homebrew a new line of titles. Luckily for us, homebrewing Atari titles is less Bonnie and Clyde and more Lady Bug and Master Chief. 

Homebrew titles come in a variety of flavors. There is a subset that aims to improve tragic, original Atari 2600 releases. The best example of this is Pac-Man 4K by Dennis Debro. This title shows that the original Pac-Man for the 2600 did not have to be a flickering barf-fest. Another category of homebrews aims to bring a completely new game to 2600 fans. In Duck Attack! by Will Nicholes, the player must collect radioactive eggs laid by enormous, mutant, and fire-breathing ducks to prevent a mad scientist from using them to create a doomsday device. Finally, there is a subset of homebrews that takes popular titles of the era that were originally released on other home systems and brings them to the 2600 for the first time. Lady Bug, released for both Intellivision and ColecoVision and ported to the Atari 2600 in 2006 by John W. Champeau, fits into this category.

Lady Bug is a complex game. You control a mild-mannered Lady Bug. Your goal is to eat the delectable flowers that line the garden paths. Sharing the garden with you are several disagreeable bugs. At the start of the game, the inhospitable insects are corralled in the center of the board. A green timer runs along the edge of the board. Once the timer completes a cycle, one of the viscous vermin is released and it starts to chase you through the maze. Up to four insects can chase you. When they are all out, you'll have an opportunity to storm their bunker and eat one of their delicious high-scoring vegetables. As you run though the maze, you'll have the opportunity to open and close the many green garden gates to delay your enemies. If you flip the doors at the right time, you can drive the insects into one of the two death skulls to instantaneously vaporize them. The flipping doors create a dynamic and exciting game board. A smart Lady Bug will take advantage of this to stay one step ahead of trouble.

In addition to the delicious flowers, there are also hearts and letters that you can collect for points and bonuses. During the course of the game, the hearts and letters cycle through three colors: blue, yellow, and red. Collect blue hearts and get point multipliers. Snatch yellow letters to spell the word EXTRA and get an extra life and a bonus cut scene. Finally gather all the red letters to spell the word SPECIAL and you will be transported to a special stage containing only the coveted high-scoring vegetables. The special stage is where your score grows to magical beanstalk heights. As far as I've been able to tell, the letters appear randomly, so you'll have to have patience my young grasshopper, er, lady bug, to collect the bonus words.

I love Lady Bug. It's exciting, fun, and it makes you think. I am amazed that Champeau managed to create such a remarkable port on the limited 2600 hardware. Playing a fantastic homebrew like Lady Bug is inspiring. It makes me think that if I put my mind to it, I could go out and create something new for the system that kindled my love of video games. It's a bit of a stretch, but, hey, it's important to dream.

Start of Lady Bug for the Atari 2600.

Extra life cut sequence: Lady Bug dances a little jig around the screen.

Death for Lady Bug: at least it looks like she's on her way to a better place.

Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.

Retro Game Reviews

Game	System	Ranking
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom	Atari 5200
Burger Drop	Atari 5200
BurgerTime	Arcade
BurgerTime	Atari 2600
BurgerTime Deluxe	GameBoy
Darkwing Duck	GameBoy
Eggomania	Atari 2600
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial	Atari 2600
Gremlins	Atari 5200
Lady Bug	Atari 2600
Mario Bros.	Atari 5200
Midnight Magic	Atari 2600
Missle Command	Atari 5200
Moon Patrol	Atari 5200
Pole Position	Atari 5200
Qix	Atari 5200
River Raid	Atari 5200
River Raid	Atari 2600
Skiing	Atari 2600
Yar's Revenge	Atari 2600
Zaxxon	Atari 5200

Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.